Published on: November 6th, 2025

Benjamin Franklin: Founder, Statesman, and Friend of the Common Man

Benjamin Franklin, a once widely-read Founder and Renaissance man, cared about shaping the moral and civic virtues of everyday people and helping them help themselves become good citizens. Good and virtuous citizens, he said, were the foundation of a democratic society. Franklin counselled the common man throughout all of his writings, but perhaps most especially in his Autobiography.

Franklin laid out thirteen virtues for the common man to adopt in his own life in Chapter IX of his Autobiography, “Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection”. While they may seem plain at first glance, Franklin assured his readers these were the virtues to help men become able to govern himself well, which would make him love and contribute to his society.

  1. TEMPERANCE (Eat not to Dulness. Drink not to Elevation)
  2. SILENCE (Speak not but what may benefit others or your self. Avoid trifling conversation)
  3. ORDER (Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time)
  4. RESOLUTION (Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve)
  5. FRUGALITY (Make no Expence but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing)
  6. INDUSTRY (Lose no Time—Be always employ’d in something useful—Cut off all unnecessary Actions)
  7. SINCERITY (Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly)
  8. JUSTICE (Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty)
  9. MODERATION (Avoid Extreams. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve)
  10. CLEANLINESS (Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Cloths or Habitation)
  11. TRANQUILITY (Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at accidents common on unavoidable
  12. CHASTITY (Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace of Reputation)
  13. HUMILITY (Imitate Jesus and Socrates)

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About Hillsdale in D.C.

Hillsdale in D.C. is an extension of the teaching mission of Hillsdale College to Washington, D.C. Its purpose is to teach the Constitution and the principles that give it meaning. Through the study of original source documents from American history—and of older books that formed the education of America’s founders—it seeks to inspire students, teachers, citizens, and policymakers to return the America’s principles to their central place in the political life of the nation.

About Hillsdale College

Hillsdale College is an independent liberal arts college located in southern Michigan. Founded in 1844, the College has built a national reputation through its classical liberal arts core curriculum and its principled refusal to accept federal or state taxpayer subsidies, even indirectly in the form of student grants or loans. It also conducts an outreach effort promoting civil and religious liberty, including a free monthly speech digest, Imprimis, with a circulation of more than 5.7 million. For more information, visit hillsdale.edu.